First of all CRB. The vetting of people who work with under 18s and certain other categories was taken over by the Disclosure Barring Service back in December 2012.
Therefore anyone with a CRB has not been checked since the DBS took over, December 2012 ……..
One of the changes introduced with the DBS was the 3 month rule. Quite simply, if someone has not engaged in the work for which they were vetted for 3 months their DBS check becomes invalid. The requirement is to then submit a new for a fresh clearance. There are probably a lot of people out there who were CRB checked quite some time ago, have not used it for 3 months or more therefore rendering it invalid.
Does a photographer need to be DBS checked ?. It depends on what they are doing but in most cases NO. People who are required to be checked will, in the course of their work, be on their own with under 18s etc. If you are having some family photographs with your children you will be there so there is no ‘requirement’ for a DBS check. It is when you leave your children with someone that the possibility of a DBS check comes in.
Am I DBS checked ? Yes.
I am also on the update service which enables any potential employer who is registered with the system to check my current status, not just when the piece of paper was issued.
I still undertake some teaching so I go through the vetting process for that work. In the days of CRB the check that I have for teaching was not, technically a valid bit of paper for me as a photographer since it was issued for me as a teacher. The Criminal Records checks would be the same but, technically the CRB was not transferable from one employment type or even employer to another. I’m not sure if the DBS system has changed this for types of employment. I know that for different employers in the same type of employment, for example teaching, you can now get a ‘portable’ one.
To sum up:
If someone advertises themselves as CRB checked they are behind the times but they might use ‘CRB’ because that phrase is more familiar to people than DBS. Most photographers who work with under 18s are not working in an environment where DBS checking is required.
Given that there were no criminal prosecutions, Saville etc would probably have cleared the vetting process. DBS / CRB is just a piece of paper declaring about what you are known to have done up until a moment in time.